‘Spectacular position’: Local family pays $8.95m on northern beaches

A four-bedroom family home with pure oceanfront views in Avalon sold for $8.95 million at auction on Saturday.

The architect-designed residence on a lush level lawn at 510 Barrenjoey Road had a guide of $8 million.

Four families all local to Avalon registered, and three were active, before an intimate crowd of around 15 people.

Bidding opened at $8 million on the front lawn before the endless ocean view and rose fast in mostly $50,000 bids as well as a few $100,000 bids.

Within 12 minutes the price had soared $450,000 above its $8.5 million reserve, and it sold under the hammer for $8.95 million to a couple from the suburb.

There is no legal requirement for a vendor’s reserve to be in line with their property’s price guide.

Selling agent Lachlan Elder from LJ Hooker Mona Vale said, “it was just a beautiful house in a spectacular position.”

Elder said it was not hard to find oceanfront properties in the northern beaches suburb but what set it apart was the “turnkey living.”

“It’s rare to have a new house … they don’t need to do anything,” he said. The vendor did a knock down-rebuild six years ago, he added.

“It was a great result in a challenging market,” Elder said.

The vendors will be relocating within the northern beaches.

The address last traded for $3.25 million in 2017, records show.

The property was one of 1171 scheduled auctions in Sydney last week. By Saturday evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 55 per cent from 710 reported results, while 224 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.

In Turramurra, a grand five-bedroom property at 39 Mimosa Road had a slow start. Guided at $4 million, the double storey home was built nine years ago.

Six registered, most were from the upper north shore. Yet for the first 20 minutes there was hesitation to make an initial bid. Finally, things got under way with a $3.7 million opening bid.

Then three parties were active and with several back-and-forth rises, and a $25,000 adjustment down from the initial reserve of $4.3 million to $4,275,000 was made, although the house went on to sell above both reserves for $4.4 million.

Ray White’s Liana Power said, “It was one of the longest, most dragged-out starts I’ve ever had.”

“Nobody wanted to start. They all were … just sitting on their hands waiting.” Once bidding was under way it was another 20 minutes until the hammer went down.

Powers said it was a, “good result, really good, especially in the current market.”

“There’s a lot of uncertainty, both with buyers and sellers, and buyers are trying their luck to put forward low offers or bids … they’re interested in a property one minute, then they drop off quite quickly.”

Powers said buyers are worried about overpaying. “It’s almost like they want to see other buyers want to commit, then they’ll commit. It doesn’t make a lot of sense because then they have competition and the price goes up.”

She added the interest in the home would have been even stronger had there been a swimming pool.

The vendor is downsizing locally. The buyer is upsizing from Turramurra. They were planning to build, however decided to go with a turnkey home and avoid the build process.

The address last traded for $830,000 in 2014, records show.

In Arncliffe, a three-bedroom home built in 1920, at 21 Athelstane Avenue, drew a crowd of around 70 people. The double-brick bungalow with white picket fence attracted eight registrations, mostly from the inner west.

Bidding opened bang on its $1.4 million guide, and four parties made offers. Bids quickly met its $1.6 million reserve then climbed above $1.8 million.

In total 38 rapid bids were made in mostly $20,000 increments. The character home sold for $1,825,000.

McGrath’s Stefan Bujak said, “It went berserk!”

“It went nuts! It was over a 350 square metre block, it’s a semi sized home,” he said.

“It was the California bungalow style, which always attracts inner-west buyers in particular. Period features including … fireplace, original hardwood floors, high ornate ceilings,” he said, adding the home was updated five years ago but maintained the original footprint.

The buyer is upsizing from a unit in Canterbury. The vendor is moving to North Sydney.

The house last traded for $1.25 million in 2018, records show.

PRD’s chief economist Dr Diaswati Mardiasmo said Domain’s clearance rate of 55 per cent for Sydney is “sort of stable.”

“People are still uncertain about what’s happening or what’s about to happen, and they’re definitely keeping a close watch,” she said.

“So we’re seeing that in the property market right now, where people are being very cautious and wanting to make sure that if they are going to commit to a debt or a property that it’s the best possible thing for them in terms of bang for buck, making sure it’s definitely what they want, what they need, and at the best price.”